Day 3

Wow, an update on the actual day for me, a rarity!

After staying up much of the night with the other delegates finalizing our workshops, we finally crashed around 1am only to wake up at 6-7am. We left at 8 to go to the Sethsenian school for the deaf to meet our peers.

First impressions were: wow! I think we all instantly fell in love with the students. There were several schools that came and Greg, Anthony, and I rotated giving workshops to different groups. We gave 2 workshops today and will give 1 tomorrow (Tuesday).

The first workshop was a learning experience for all as it allowed us to truly try out our workshop on the Thai delegates. From there, we were able to make adjustments as needed, often on the fly. I do have to say that 3 months of weekly meetings and intensive preparations paid off as every member of my team (and others as well) were well prepared. Not only that, but they also had the learned skills to overcome any obstacles. Most of all, they knew what to expect - the communication barriers, the interruptions for tea & snacks, and so on.

Unfortunately, we were not able to stay long after school due to having to get back to our hotel to change into nice clothes. Alim surprised us all with dinner and a show called Siam Niramit. This place has a sign claiming to have the world's highest stage according to the guiness book of world records. It was a Cirque de Soliel type of show. This show was awesome! What impressed me most was the river of water on the stage! At first I thought it was fake until I saw an actor actually dive into the water on the stage and swim in it. Then boats were floating on it. It was truly one of the most amazing stage productions I've ever seen. One of our delegates, Rachel, was called from the audience to place a lantern on the river onstage. This show elicited a lot of audience participation, music, visual effects, and it showed a concise history of Siam in an interesting way. Did you all know that Thailand used to be called Siam? Well, if you didn't, now you do! :)

Despite the coolness of this show, some of us kept nodding off due to being tired and everything catching up to us. Myself included. I'm just glad I didn't miss much of the show because it really was cool and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who visits Thailand in the future.

After our hour-long ride back (where everyone passed out, ofc) we arrived at our hotel. Before turning in for thr night, we stopped at a nearby bar mere meters from our hotel to have some soda and reminscise about our day. Most delegates remarked they fell in love with the students, were impressed by what they saw, had their expectations exceeded, and etc. I think we are all ready to give our third and final workshop tomorrow!

Before I forget, I should explain the team themes. My team theme is "Identity". ie who are you? What makes you different? What makes you the same? We had some skits, hands on activities, and a couple ice breaker and games, as well as a presentation by Rachel and Nicole. A glitch in our first workshop was the lack of translation from English to Thai for the book that we made with questions for students to fill in answers. We had a heck of a time trying to gesture, what were rather abstract, English ideas. For example, a question was, "Who is the boldest person that you know?". However, the principal, Apron, saved the day by coming in to translate for us. She then translated everything on paper for us and we were able to put that up in the wall for the 2nd workshop students' benefits. It made a HUGE difference! Despite all of the glitches, I think everyone pulled off their workshops quite well!

Greg's team focused on community development and Anthony's team on dreams, but I will let their bloggers blog about that. I'm no thunder-stealer!

Now, bed beckons! Good morning to you all in America!

KT
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